2009 Kentucky Wildcats Basketball Recruiting Class
Posted by admin in 2009 NCAA Recruiting, College Hoops Featured, Kentucky Wildcats, tags: 2009 kentucky basketball recruiting class, 2009 kentucky recruiting class, coach john calipari, daniel orton, darnell dodson, demarcus cousins, eric bledsoe, jodi meeks, john wall, jon hood, Kentucky Wildcats, patrick patterson
Kentucky Wildcats Home, Rupp Arena
Coach Cal has been in Lexington for two months and already has built the best college basketball recruiting class for 2009. After two disappointing seasons under former Coach Billy Gillespie that came after two mediocre years (for Kentucky fans) with Tubby Smith, Kentucky fans have been hungry for something to be happy about. The first bit of good news was that star postman Patrick Patterson would return for his junior year instead of making a go at the 2009 NBA draft. The second was the signing of number 2ranked big man Daniel Orton after Coach Cal joined the Wildcats. Since then, Calipari has been busy with building what may just be the best NCAA basketball recruiting class ever with the recent signing of star point guard prospect, John Wall. With some massaging of his roster still to do, Coach Calipari has become the perfect fit for a Kentucky Wildcat program that has had an identity crisis since the 1996-98 seasons that found the Wildcats win 2 National Championships and play in the NCAA Tournament finals for three consecutive seasons.
Kentucky’s 2009 Men’s Basketball Recruiting Class
#1 Kentucky Basketball Prospect – PG – John Wall
Rivals.com - #1
Scout.com- #1
Ht: 6′4″
Wt: 185 lbs
#2 Kentucky Basketball Prospect – PF – Demarcus Cousins
Rivals.com - #2
Sout.com – #10
Ht: 6′9″
Wt: 250 lbs
#3 Kentucky Basketball Prospect – PG – Eric Bledsoe
Rivals.com - #23
Sout.com – #30
Ht: 6′1″
Wt: 185 lbs
#4 Kentucky Basketball Prospect – C – Daniel Orton
Rivals.com - #22
Sout.com – #20
Ht: 6′10″
Wt: 260 lbs
#5 Kentucky Basketball Prospect – SG/SF – Jon Hood
Rivals.com - #40
Sout.com – #50
Ht: 6′6″
Wt: 185 lbs
#6 Kentucky Basketball Prospect – SF – Darnell Dodson
Ht: 6′7″
Wt: 215 lbs
2009-10 Projected Starting Lineup for the Kentucky Wildcats
Trying to project the starting lineup for the start of next season is similar to picking the Kentucky Derby winner. I’m putting John Wall as the projected starting point guard, but if Deandre Liggins makes the pending cut for the team next season, he could very well start the season off at the #1 guard position. His style of play is much more suited to the dribble-drive than it was for Coach G’s system…what remains to be seen is if he can control himself from some of the errors he was prone to last season. Also, you can’t count Eric Bledsoe out yet either. If Jodi Meeks does not come back for next season, it wouldn’t be surprising for Coach Cal to surprise everyone and have both John Wall and Bledsoe on the court at the same time in the Dribble Drive. My pick for the 2 guard if Meeks choses to go with the NBA next season is Darius Miller to start the season. Miller has the height that Calipari likes in a guard, and one year of NCAA play under his belt. He’ll have to get over some of the skittishness (is that a word?) that he displayed under Billy G last season, but he did show flashes of greatness at times during the season. For the small forward position, I think its really a toss-up between Perry Stevenson and Darnell Dodson to start out the season. Stevenson too has shown us he can play…its a matter of can he do it every game?? Patterson will likely move out to the Power Forward position from Center to get ready for the NBA and Demarcus Cousins and Daniel Orton will battle it out for the Center position next season. Of course, summer pick-up games and fall practice performance will determine a lot and it will be neat to see how Coach Cal uses his talent next season even if you are not a Kentucky fan.
Projected 2009-10 Kentucky Wildcats Starting Line-Up:
PG: John Wall
SG: Darius Miller
SF: Darnell Dodson
PF: Patrick Patterson
C: Demarcus Cousins
Haven’t seen John Wall play? Here’s a video of him in action from High School.
If you’re into twitter and are a Wildcat’s fan, you can follow Coach Cal.
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Entries (RSS)
[...] 2009 NCAA Basketball Recruit – PG – Eric Bledsoe College: Kentucky Wildcats Ht: 6′1″ Wt: 185 [...]
PG: John Wall
SG: Jodie Meeks
SF: Darius Miller
PF: Patrick Patterson
C: Demarcus Cousins
NCAA champs for sure
I have to agree with your starting lineup, however the proof of the pudding is no of minutes played.. I believe Liggins and Stephenson will surprise a lot of people. Miller is probably the most accomplished player, because he can play defense, shoot the three, and get on the boards. He is also excellent at getting into the seam and shooting the flooter. I also think Orton is going to surprise a lot of people as well as Dotson, a natural shooter.
[...] http://www.collegehoopsvideo.com/2009/05/2009-kentucky-wildcats-basketball-recruiting-class/, http://www.predictify.com/q/where-will-jodie-meeks-be-picked-in-2009-nba-draft-2, [...]
[...] Kentucky Wildcat Recruit- Darnell [...]
[...] Demarcus Cousins when discussions arise regarding the 2009 Kentucky Wildcats Men’s basketball recruiting class. There’s plenty of material on point guard prospect John Wall, but the remaining [...]
[...] NCAA Basketball Rankings – No. 2 Kentucky Its debatable on what the impact of Jodie Meeks not coming back to Kentucky for the 2009-10 season [...]
[...] 2009 NCAA tournament with Coach John Calipari taking over from Billy G. Coach Cal has brought the number 1 ranked recruiting class to Lexington, and with it some high expectations from Wildcat fans and a top 5 pre-season ranking! Other big [...]
[...] South area of the United States running above the 10% national average at the time of this writing, Coach Cal has given Wildcat fans almost daily news to look forward to! A few things from his time in Memphis [...]
This article misrepresents the truth, and contains a lot of revisionist history. The writer says something to the effect of “Coach Cal has been at Kentucky only two months and has already built possibly the best recruiting class in NCAA history.”
Come on … Tell the truth.
He didn’t build that in theast two months, he did it while collecting a paycheck from the University of Memphis. Then, just weeks before recruiting deadlines are done, and virtually every good high school prospect in the nation has committed to schools, Coach Cal decides to leave the Memphis program and take almost the entire Memphis recruiting class with him.
The NCAA should stop this kind of piracy so that schools can’t “hire” a basketball team like KU did this year. Maybe make a rule that says, in order for a coach to take a player with him to a NEW school, that he first recruits for another school, that player must sit out for one year.
Just wanted to set the record straight about Cal.
(I would advise Mrs. Cal to keep her eye on John. Seems like if he gets the right offer, he thinks only of himself.
I believe Coach Cal will play at a breakneck speed for 40 minutes, and simply run other players into the hardwood, because they don't have adequate players to offer breaks to the starters–UK does have that luxury. It should be fun to see UK running again, and heaven help those teams like, Fla., Tenn., NC., and SC., who will be pulling up their poants at the free throw line. Remember 98 and 96 when UK simply ran teams to death.. Go Cats